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Dragon Religion
All dragons know of Io, who fashioned mortal dragons in his image. They also know that Io died not long afterward. They believe that the other deities, who banded together during the primordial–deity wars that followed the creation of the world, left Io to fight alone except for the aid of his draconic children. The Fall of Io During the wars, Io faced a terrible primordial called Erek-Hus, the King of Terror, on a blasted worldly continent half shattered from a century of conflict. With a primordial-wrought axe of adamantine the size of a mountain, the King of Terror split Io from head to tail, neatly cleaving the deity into two pieces. Birth of the Dragon Deities During the wars, Io faced a terrible primordial called Erek-Hus, the King of Terror, on a blasted worldly continent half shattered from a century of conflict. With a primordial-wrought axe of adamantine the size of a mountain, the King of Terror split Io from head to tail, neatly cleaving the deity into two pieces. What one deity alone could not accomplish, two working together could. Together the two new deities, Bahamut and Tiamat, fought and killed the King of Terror. Bahamut flung the King’s axe into the starry sky. The infusion of divine power granted more than just divine strength to Bahamut and Tiamat. Io’s character also split. His desire to protect creation and his sense of fairness took root in Bahamut, now worshiped as a deity of justice, honor, and protection. Tiamat embodied Io’s hubris, arrogance, and covetousness and came to be revered as a deity of greed and envy. The two dragon deities looked at each other across the corpse of the defeated King of Terror. Neither could suffer the other to exist. They leapt for each other and battled for days. Finally, Tiamat fled, and the two deities returned their attention to the larger war against the primordials. Worship by Chromatic Dragons Uncountable millennia have passed since Bahamut and Tiamat rose. In that time, mortal dragons have multiplied across the world. Chromatic dragons openly prefer Tiamat, but other deities have also found dragons’ favor. Asmodeus Asmodeus is the evil deity of the Nine Hells. He is patron of the powerful, deity of tyranny and domination, and the commander of devils. Of all the chromatics, red dragons are the most likely to commit to the service of Asmodeus. A red dragon’s natural desire to tyrannize finds resonance in Asmodeus’s hierarchy of power and pain. What red dragon would overlook the chance to install devilish guardians in its volcanic lair? Avandra The deity of change, Avandra delights in freedom, trade, travel, adventure, and the frontier. Many also see her as a patron deity of luck, the quality for which some chromatic dragons revere her—but only dragons that are not especially evil in behavior. Tiamat’s clergy reviles dragons that revere Avandra over Tiamat, but Avandra’s draconic followers are nowhere as despised as the chromatics that follow Bahamut’s teachings. Bahamut :Main Article: Bahamut Called the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut is the deity of justice, protection, nobility, and honor. Lawful good paladins often revere him, and metallic dragons worship him as the first of their kind. Of all the deities, Bahamut receives the least reverence from chromatics. Sometimes a chromatic might rebel against its inner nature, following Bahamut’s teachings as a new paradigm through which to live out the centuries. Bahamut offers guidance to dragons that follow his path, because the church of Tiamat sends powerful clerics to destroy any chromatic dragon it learns has switched its devotion to the Platinum Dragon. Bane Bane is the deity of war and conquest. He commands his followers to overpower the weak, subjugate the survivors, and spread war everywhere. Though militaristic nations of humans and goblins serve him, many chromatics also warm to Bane’s message of perpetual conquest. With never-ending war comes the opportunity for never-ending pillage: Chromatics welcome the opportunity to profiteer, and they dramatically enhance the value of their hoards by taking advantage of and indeed even fomenting war. They break peace treaties and otherwise make certain that neighboring kingdoms live in armed fear of one another. Corellon The deity of spring, beauty, and the arts, Corellon is the patron of arcane magicians and the fey. Some believe he seeded the world with arcane magic, which is why chromatic dragons might come to revere this deity more often associated with eladrin and elves. Wily red dragons especially find the accumulation of arcane knowledge a most important pursuit. Thus, they might keep shrines to Corellon in their lairs. Indeed, one of Corellon’s commands to his followers is to seek out lost magic items, forgotten rituals, and ancient works of art. What dragon does not already do that? Erathis Erathis is the deity of civilization, so her values oppose those of most chromatic dragons. As a founder of cities and writer of laws, Erathis creates order and organization among the helpless multitudes, whereas chromatics value the strength of the individual and the right of individuals (in other words, themselves) to do as they please. Erathis’s role as the muse of great inventors has called to a few blues, browns, and other individual dragons that value new ideas, but on the whole Erathis has few chromatic worshipers. Gruumsh Gruumsh is the chaotic evil deity of destruction, lord of marauding barbarian hordes. He exhorts his followers to slaughter and pillage, a dictate that chromatic dragons find easy to accommodate. On more than one occasion, a chromatic dragon that has pledged itself to Gruumsh has risen to command an army of despoilers. Ioun Ioun is the deity of knowledge, skill, and prophecy. Sages, tacticians, and seers revere her, as do all who live by their knowledge and mental power. Some older chromatic dragons become more concerned with their wealth of knowledge than the wealth of their hoards. These dragons find Ioun a natural match and set up shrines to the deity in their lairs. Kord Kord is the storm deity and the lord of battle. He revels in strength, battlefield prowess, and thunder. For all these qualities, he draws a few chromatic dragons from every generation, especially blue ones. An adult blue dragon called Echo leads the Temple of Storms in the Windrise Peaks, hallowed to Kord. This devout blue flies every night amid the thundering clouds. Each day, Echo descends to the valleys to fight in the constant skirmishes between quarrelsome orc tribes. Lolth Lolth is the chaotic evil deity of shadows, lies, and spiders. Though she is predominantly known for her patronage of the drow, chromatic dragons appreciate her deceptive qualities. Black and purple dragons might become adherents—and in their study of treachery learn something of spiders, too. From time to time, drow and chromatics pledged to Lolth work together. Lolth’s priestesses attempt to ensure that in any such arrangement, the dragon does not gain the upper hand. They do not always succeed. Melora Melora is the deity of the wilderness and the sea. She personifies the natural aspects of deserts, seas, wild lands, and forests. Chromatic dragons sometimes see her as the natural protector of such places and find the savage fury she can stir in her followers to be more pure than the true evil that Tiamat commands. A dragon hungers and must eat, but must it cause more pain and suffering in doing so than necessary? Dragon followers of Melora believe they need not. They promise their prey a quick death. Moradin Moradin is the lawful good deity of creation and the patron of artisans, especially miners and smiths. He carved the mountains from the elemental earth, giving form to what the primordials had left formless. The power of Moradin is such that he draws a tiny fraction of chromatics into his fold, despite his alignment. According to one story, a black dragon that cleaned out a dwarven fortress found a shrine to Moradin there. Over a period of several years, the black learned more about the creator deity. In time, the dragon pledged itself to the deity’s cause. The dragon’s first task was to atone for all the dwarves slain in taking control of the fortress—a task that required the dragon’s remaining centuries to complete. Pelor Deity of the sun and summer, Pelor is the keeper of time. He supports those in need and opposes all forms of evil. Thus, followers of Pelor more often oppose chromatic dragons than welcome them into their fold. As a quintessentially human deity, Pelor strikes chromatics at best as an interfering annoyance and at worst as a dangerous foe who inspires crazed priests and paladins intent on slaying dragons. The Raven Queen Spinner of fate and patron of winter, the Raven Queen marks the end of each mortal life. She takes away the souls of creatures killed by chromatic dragons, so some dragons see themselves as her agents, collecting her due. Some go so far as to adopt the Raven Queen as their true deity—especially white dragons, who find her command of winter a natural extension of their own nature. Sehanine Deity of the moon and autumn, Sehanine is the patron of trickery and illusions. For this reason, a surprising number of chromatics, especially greens and blacks, revere her. They see her dominion over trickery and illusions as a facet of dominion over love; to most chromatics, love is a trick to play on others. Purples and grays also sometimes revere Sehanine for her instructions to seek new horizons: grays across the surface of the world, and purples under it. Tiamat :Main Article: Tiamat Tiamat is the evil deity of wealth, greed, and envy, and the patron of chromatic dragons. She urges her followers to take vengeance for every slight. Most chromatic dragons that worship a deity worship Tiamat. Tiamat requires that her followers keep a vigilant eye out for adherents of Bahamut— whether those adherents are dragon or not—and stamp them out at any cost. Her greed knows no bounds. She might even claim the hoards of chromatic dragons that do not pledge themselves to her. Of all the deities, Tiamat takes the most mortal consorts— always dragons. The dragons she chooses are usually chromatics, but she might court dragons of other families if they prove themselves to her. Torog Torog is the evil deity of the Underdark, patron of jailers and torturers. Also called the King That Crawls, Torog listens for anyone foolish enough to speak his name on the surface. If he hears his name, he might dispatch a servant to collect the offender. On rare occasions, he personally burrows up from below and drags the hapless speaker underground to an eternity of imprisonment and torture, but he prefers to send creatures of the Underdark to do the job—creatures such as purple dragons. Legend has it that Torog keeps a realm at the center of the world and that purple dragons assiduously seek it, believing they will find great reward there. Vecna Vecna is the evil deity of the undead, necromancy, and secrets. He rules that which is not meant to be known and that which people wish to keep secret. A few dragons prefer Vecna to Tiamat because, despite Vecna’s affiliation with the undead, he knows secrets likely to surpass those of all other deities. Tiamat commands vengeance; Vecna commands the deepest of dark mysteries. Indeed, dragons that wish to learn the secret of becoming undead could do worse than follow the tenets of Vecna. Zehir Zehir is the evil deity of darkness, poison, and assassins. Snakes are his favored creation, and yuan-ti adore him. Despite a long-standing desire to distinguish themselves from snakes and reptiles, chromatic dragons that have an affinity for darkness and poison throw in their lot with Zehir. Green dragons, in particular, find reverence to Zehir a natural fit; they call each of their victims a sacrifice to the deity of darkness. No Deity Many chromatic dragons are apostates. They know of the existence of the deities—especially Tiamat, who helped shape their kind—but either they never develop a strong enough reverence for any divine being to become worshipers, or they renounce their patron deities for one reason or another. Others study the convoluted clashes and claims of deities and decide divine beings are nothing more than powerful individuals claiming prerogatives not due them. After all, in the fullness of time, every dragon believes that perhaps one day it will become as powerful. Exarchs Deities maintain distance and detachment from the everyday happenings of the world—even from mighty dragons that choose to worship those deities. Thus, deities employ exarchs to act on their behalf. Exarchs sometimes even go so far as to listen for prayers directed toward the deities they serve. Dragon exarchs do more than just help their deities deal with a cosmos of worshipers: They also act as points of familiarity for chromatic dragons interested in serving their deities. Although a given dragon might not wish to serve Corellon, it might not mind offering reverence to Astilabor (see below) and thus indirectly serving Corellon. Dragon exarchs are powerful dragons that rise in prominence either in the world or out among the wider planes. Brief descriptions of some chromatic dragon exarchs follow. Aasterinian :Deity: Avandra Aasterinian is a mischievous blue dragon who enjoys learning through play, invention, and pleasure. She serves primarily as Avandra’s messenger and especially likes to deliver decrees that set great changes in motion. Dragons that revere Aasterinian appreciate her flightiness and quick wits. All dragons applaud her stance that they should think for themselves and rely on their own devices. Astilabor :Deity: Corellon Astilabor’s hoard was once the penultimate collection of ancient art, magic, and prose created by the deity Corellon. When he invited this red dragon to become one of his exarchs, she accepted. She represents the natural draconic desire to acquire treasure and power, tempered by the knowledge that naked greed can bring doom to a hoard. Dragons revere Astilabor because of her representation of wealth and power and because of her guidance in avoiding acts that might endanger their hoards. Though Astilabor claims to decry thievery, stolen goods sometimes find their ways into the hoards of dragons that revere her, with no consequence. Chronepsis :Deity: The Raven Queen Chronepsis cares not for a soul’s disposition. This gray dragon is silent, unconcerned, and dispassionate— the perfect exarch for the Raven Queen. Indeed, for those souls that prove troublesome by lingering when they should move beyond, Chronepsis demonstrates a valuable ability to consume the forms of dead and undead alike. Dragons that revere Chronepsis see him as a passionless judge in fate and death, a disinterested observer of the world. When dragons die, their souls might well pass under his scrutiny. He does not dispense punishment or seek to right perceived wrongs. He merely shuttles souls toward their fates. Falazure :Deity: Vecna Known as the Night Dragon, Falazure is known for his vampirelike breath of life-draining miasma. He appears as a gaunt black dragon sometimes so emaciated he seems more akin to a dracolich. As a devotee of Vecna, Falazure teaches that a multitude of secrets can extend a dragon’s long life even longer. Many of those secrets involve necromancy and vampiric regeneration, but not all of them do. Falazure also knows other hidden dragon secrets, so dragons pray to him to learn whatever he will divulge. Category:Dragon Category:Religion